Acne Part I

In January, I entertained the thought of blogging about the Accutane journey I was about to start. I took photos of my face without makeup- the plan was to take photo's every month to see how I was progressing and have a documentation of it. I chickened out when I saw the original photos- it was bad. I couldn't bring myself to post them or talk about it.

But now, I'm nearing the end of the treatment. Accutane is recommended to run a 6 month course, and this past week I got my 5th month Rx. Just in the past few weeks have I started to notice a significant difference in my skin. There was a while there that I was so frustrated because it wasn't clearing up fast enough, for all the hoops I had to jump thru to get it. (And trust me, there are A LOT of hoops!)

The reason I'm writing now is because I feel as if I'm finally, over a decade later, coming to the end of my acne journey. Like anyone who has acne, the longer it lasts, the more the desperation builds. For me, the sheer fact that I am in the beauty industry seemed to make it so much worse- the more successful I became in my career, the more ashamed I was of my skin. I have even been known to avoid jobs because I was too embarrassed about my face. When I would do clients makeup, my face would always be close to theirs and I felt like I had to explain myself. I could cover up color, sure- but if I had a lot of bumps, it was obvious. Some days, all I wanted to do was scream "It's not my fault! I can't help it!" I could go on about the humiliation, but that's not why I'm blogging...

There is SO MUCH information out there on acne; it can be hard to sort thru. And again, desperate people do desperate things. So I'm going to lay out, very simply, what I have learned. I've had the added benefit of having access to professional products as well as retail products. I've also devoured any industry literature on acne that I could find... I think it's only fair that I pass it along.
I'm going to divide this up into sections- I will do my best to do one a week. I'm going to start with the basics of acne. Again, the purpose of this is to simplify the options- sometimes there's just too much information; I'm going to streamline it for you. I will chronicle what I know, as a professional and as acne patient. If I'm feeling especially brave, I'll post pictures, but I make no promises...

If you have acne, subscribe to this blog. I may not tell you anything you don't already know, but if anything, you'll know that you're not the only one out there who feels like this. Just knowing you have company may make you feel better.